Course objectives
At the end of the course the students should be able to:
- Conduct independent academic research: develop a research proposal, collect data, analyse the data and report on the findings in a thesis;
- Critically evaluate and interpret research findings in terms of validity and reliability.
Course content
The course has five main parts:
Remedial course basic of statistics
This will be an online course deals with the basic statistical knowledge needed to design a research and analyse quantitative data. The content of this course will not be part of the RMT exams.
RMT0: Problem statement
During this part of the course the students will learn how to come from a broad background of the study to a focussed thesis topic by means of the development of a problem statement. At the end of this introduction, students will receive the assignment to draft the problem statement of their thesis, making use of the topics and the literature in their specialisation courses.
RMT1: Introduction into academic research. (2ECTS)
At the start of RMT 1 students will present their thesis topic and problem statement in Colloquium 1. During RMT 1 students will first get an introduction into academic research and the different research approaches applied in different academic disciplines. There will also be an introduction on how to conduct research, and on how to formulate and fine tune the problem statement, sound research objectives and questions. The students will learn about research objectives, research approaches and how to apply the quality criteria for good research in qualitative and quantitative approaches. This will be done through the analysis of an existing master thesis from each research workshop.
RMT2: Operational of conceptual framework, Data Collection Methods and Research Instruments Workshops. (3 ECTS)
The RMT 2 course is devoted to the operationalization of the theoretical framework which will be presented during Colloquium 2 at the end of Research Workshop 1. The course focuses on research strategy and on data collection methods and instruments necessary to implement the research work. Students will learn how to operationalize their theoretical framework in order to find answers to their research questions. Different strategies and data collection methods will be presented. Different sampling techniques will be also presented, and the students will learn how to select the appropriate sample size and sample method for their particular research.
RMT3: Data analysis Workshops (SPSS/Atlas.ti) (3 ECTS)
The RMT 3 course offers students workshops on data preparation and analysis. In these workshops they will learn how to construct a data base, how to prepare the data for analysis and how to analyse and interpret the data. For each workshop series students have to choose either the quantitative (SPSS) or qualitative (Atlas.ti) data analysis workshops, depending on their research design.
Course information
Programme: Research Methods and Techniques
Period: Block 3
ECTS: 8
Coordinators: Marina Zwanenburg (HIS) and RISBO (EUR)
Language: English
Methodology: (Online) Lectures, workshops and individual and group assignments.
Assessment: Individual: RMT I: Multiple choice exam; RMT II: Case based assignment
Group work: RMT III: Case based assignment